Redemption (The Road to Alexandria)
by Leah Pensotti
Summary: After the shoot out at Grady Memorial, one of the wards held there risks her life to leave with Rick and his group as they head north to D.C. The Alexandria Safe-Zone becomes a new reality for all. Set after "Coda". Possible romance later.
1. Polite Society

This is a work of fan fiction and is not meant to infringe upon properties of Kirkman/Moore/AMC.

**Of Alexandria **

**By Leah Pensotti**

Chapter One: Polite Society

Polite Society.

She had heard the term many times growing up. Mostly at the Christmas Cotillion in Savannah when she was introduced to the so-called "polite society" when she came out as a debutante in her 19th year.

Anna Leigh Marber. Mrs. Anna Leigh Marber.

It felt like a lifetime ago.

Dawn Lerner, who was roughly the same as she was, told Anna at their first meeting that she should spare her "the Scarlett O'Hara and Steel Magnolia uppity bullshit."

That was before the bomb, before her husband Phillip, a doctor at Grady Memorial had died.

Since then, Anna passed the time avoiding Dawn's darting glares and passive aggressive abuse and worked in the kitchens, feeding whoever in debt whatever they could cook up. She did her best to be invisible, though the idea tended to be imperfect. Someone always noticed. Someone always took something in some manner.

The day the exchange went down, there was a charge in the air. Pins and needles. Frayed nerves. Dawn wanted her officers back.

Scissors in shoulder. Gunshots and blond hair. Dawn Lerner's last stand.

Their horror in their eyes. Those who had come to save their friends. Something stirred in Anna's stomach. Something asked her to rally and move and be brave.

So when the man announced that he would take anyone who wanted to leave the coldness of the hospital and whoever wanted to leave step forward...Anna didn't hesitate.

Polite society was dead and gone.

But somehow, hope remained.

* * *

><p>Once outside the hospital, no one spoke to Anna, but she bore witness to more pain and grief than she had experienced in some time. This group was connected, there was no power struggle, and no lording over one another. Those without power in Grady had learned to shut off their emottions. They learned to merely exist.<p>

There was a fire truck and other vehicles they took from the hospital, she and Noah were the only defectors. They were the only ones who stepped out of the hospital for more freedom...or danger...

She watched as they buried their dead. She watched as they mourned. They had traveled fifty miles north of Atlanta's ruins before they circled the wagons to make camp. Anna sat beside Noah, shivering in the thin, gray hospital scrubs Dawn had doled out to her wards. She watched as the man who liberated them talked to his own, a few threw her furtive glances over their shoulders.

"They've seen a lot. They've been out here a while. I know they seem scary."

Anna looked at Noah and nodded, "Yeah. But not as scary as that hospital. Not tricking people into indentured servitude. Not oppression based on whatever one crazy bitch had in her head. At least they care about their people."

"Rick's gonna want to ask you some questions. Be honest with your answers."

Rick. The one with the Colt revolver. The one who ushered her out of the hospital by the elbow. The haunted one.

"What kind of questions?"

She didn't have to wait too long to find out, because Rick approached. Noah excused himself and Rick didn't speak right away. Anna felt her eyes widen a bit in anticipation.

"What's your name?"

"Anna. Anna Marber."

"How did you end up at Grady?"

He was blunt, to say the least. Anna shook off the lack of courtesies and answered, "My husband was a doctor there. Before the bomb. Before..."

Rick sighed heavily, he seemed to know exactly where she was leading, "Anna...how many walkers have you killed?"

"Walkers...the dead? Three. On our way to Atlanta."

"What about the living? Have you killed any of the living?"

She felt her eyes glass over, like her stomach fell out of her bottom. The living? She hadn't meant too...

"Three weeks...after the bomb...after my husband. I miscarried." She felt herself shake with the memory...violent and unforgiving.

The man with the Colt revolver paused and looked at her square in the eyes, "That wasn't your fault."

"I..."

"Anna," Rick put a hand on her shoulder, "get something to eat. Get some sleep. Sasha and Tyreese have first watch. We leave at first light."


	2. The Weight

This is a work of fan fiction and is not meant to infringe upon properties of Kirkman/Moore/AMC.

**Of Alexandria**

**By Leah Pensotti**

Chapter Two: The Weight

Anna did mostly what Rick advised. She ate a little, but didn't sleep. She sat next to the fire while Tyreese and Sasha kept watch. She felt alone, mostly because all that she knew in this new world was back at Grady Memorial for good or ill. Soon, she had a bit of company in the form of Rick's adolescent son, Carl and his baby sister Judith.

A baby. Rick was protecting a baby. One that would have been close to her own baby's age, had it been born. Anna was in awe, and also quite emotional. One evening with this group and she had felt more than she had allowed herself in over a year.

She hadn't lied to Rick. When she first found out she was pregnant, Phillip and Anna were both elated. And then the outbreak. And then the bomb. When Phillip died, she prayed that she and they baby would, too. That this new, death-ravaged world was too much and too dangerous to bear.

Her prayers were only sort of answered. And she felt responsible.

Carl comforted Judith and tried to keep her quiet so whatever lurked in the night would not stir. He must have seen the look on Anna's face and asked plainly, "Haven't seen a baby in a while?"

"No. Not since the early days of the outbreak."

"What did you do? You know, before?"

She felt a small smile play at her lips, "Nothing really. I was a housewife. I played tennis and volunteered a lot. Nothing useful. I did go to college though. My husband was a orthopedic surgeon. They called him into Grady to help with the hospital when the city was overrun."

"Did you know Beth?"

Beth. The fragile little blond that Dawn tormented. The fragile little blond who acted in defiance of Dawn's orders for Noah to return in her stead. The fragile little blond they just buried.

Anna shook her head, "No. By the time she got there I learned not to talk too much. I stayed out of the way as best as I knew how. I'm sorry about your friend, though. She seemed very loved."

Carl nodded and they were joined by two figures stepping out of the woods. Both witnesses to the horror in the hallway. The man had carried Beth's small body out of the hospital and the woman had been the last patient that Dawn Lerner had "saved."

Carl introduced them as Carol and Daryl. Daryl brooded and remained quiet while Carol made polite, apocalypse appropriate conversation with her. One question appeared to be of utmost importance, "Do you have any skills?"

Anna smiled in spite of herself, "I have a rapier wit. I am well acquainted with guns, my Daddy was a card carrying NRA member. I can sew. I cooked in the hospital. My husband taught me basic first aid. I can give stitches."

Carol nodded while Daryl grunted in her direction, "Yup. Wasp-y Beaver Cleaver shit. Don't worry, we'll dirty up your hands real quick."

"I'm not scared. Put me to work."

Daryl shrugged off with his cross bow over his shoulders. Anna felt Carol's hand on her arm, "His bark is worse than his bite, but both can be bad. Losing Beth has been a lot for him."

* * *

><p>Rick slumped against the side of the fire truck. Abraham told him about D.C. The things that happened at the hospital. Burying Beth.<p>

How much humanity did he have left? How little did he have to lose before becoming a full fledged monster?

He questioned fighting for Noah's freedom. He questioned bringing along Father Gabriel and the girl...this Anna. She reeked of appearances and social graces of manicures and kitten heels. Time gone by. How was she gonna make it in this world?

He recognized the look in her grey eyes as the one he saw in his own. Haunted.

Rick figured he had a bit of humanity left. Some part of a soul. He wanted to protect his own. He took Noah, Father Gabriel and Anna into his fold. if he was heartless there would be none of that.

He looked toward the fire. To where his children sat with Carol and Anna and he approached slowly.

* * *

><p>"My Daddy loved The Band. You know that song, "The Weight?" He said that Levon Helm had the best damn voice of any man. So he named me Anna Leigh. Thank God he passed up the name "Fanny". "<p>

Anna saw Carol stifle a chuckle with the back of a long hand full of graceful fingers . She felt a smile pull on the corners of her lips. That lonely feeling had gone for the moment.

Rick strode slowly to them, and found that Carl and Judith had fallen into an easy sleep near the fire. Anna pulled her knees to her chest and avoided direct eye contact with the man who she felt knew all of her secrets and with one question saw the shape of her soul.

Carol told Rick she was going to check in on Maggie and Michonne and left Rick and Anna in silence by the fire.

Rick spoke after a few minutes, "I'm sorry. I ask everyone those questions. It helps show morality. I didn't mean to...drag up your past."

Anna shrugged, "Sometimes it's good to feel things. Especially in this reality. What we have left of it, anyway. I don't think anyone in this group has had it easy. I'm not delicate, Rick."

They sat in silence for moments, until sleep finally drifted Anna away. She vaguely heard him say "I never said you were delicate, Anna".


	3. Big Creek's Up, Little Creek's Level

A/N: this is a work of fanfiction and not meant to infringe upon the properties belonging to Krirkman/Moore/AMC.

**Of Alexandria**

**by Leah Pensotti**

Chapter Three: Big Creek's Up, Little Creek's Level

Sun up came quickly. Too quickly. Anna didn't realize just how tired she was and how much energy you expend by taking life and opportunities by the balls. While the camp was packing up, she thought about clean clothes, pajamas, guacamole and chips with red wine and all of the other things she was hoping to encounter again in the future.

"Dad wanted me to bring you this."

She turned slowly to see Carl holding the hilt of a .45 out to her carefully. Anna hesitated and accepted it in the same careful manner.

"Thanks, kid. Tell your Dad thanks, too."

"You sure you know how to use that?" Anna gave Carl a small nod and she checked the safety and put it in the waistband of her scrubs. She was handier with a baseball bat, but this would do. She hadn't held a weapon of any sort since leaving for Atlanta.

"Hey Carl, give the girl a break. Go pack up Judith for me."

Michonne stood before her, nothing but tough and formidable. She held out her hand to Anna and offered her some almonds.

"Thank you." She accepted a few and tried not to look too eager about consuming them.

"We're gonna be hitting the road soon. You and Noah will be with me, Rick, Carl and Judith. Probably make a run for supplies. Anything on your wish list?"

Anna nodded, "Clothes. A jacket and boots. A baseball bat if you come across one. Maybe something to read?"

Michonne gave her an unreadable look, "A baseball bat?"

"My weapon of choice. I used to have a helluva swing in high school. I'm a bit more...confident with it."

Michonne gave her a nod, "I get that. Be ready to go."

* * *

><p>They'd been in the car for an hour when Judith began to fuss. Anna watched from the back seat as Rick looked down at the gas gauge and realized that soon, they would have to find a place to stop. He motioned out of the car window to Abraham in the fire truck that they would be pulling off soon.<p>

The closest off ramp had a few gas stations and stores to syphon and cull from, including a food mart and a Dollar General Store. They parked in the gas station lot. Abraham and Rick were going to syphon off gas, while Maggie, Glenn and Daryl went for food and the others were going with Michonne and Carol in to the Dollar General while Noah, Carl and Tyreese kept watch over the vehicles, Eugene and Judith.

Anna followed Michonne closely, gun in hand. Two of the dead ambled their way and Michonne dispatched them with her katana without flinching. They waited while Michonne and Carol cleared the store , felling two more walkers in the process. The store was in disarray, but moderately stocked.

Michonne started loading up on essentials for Judith, whatever diapers and clothes that would work. Carol went to the toiletries and first aid, getting pain relievers, medicines, bandages and rubbing alcohol.

Anna went straight to the clothes. She needed something warmer and offered more protection than the damned hospital scrubs. She filled a plastic bag with the basics, cheap jeans, two t-shirts , sweatpants, a sweatshirt and a package of underwear and socks. No boots to be seen. No jackets.

Not caring who saw, she grabbed another pair of jeans and a navy t-shirt and shimmied out of the scrubs in the middle of the aisle. Once dressed, she moved on to other aisles and met up with Carol near the Toiletries. Together they found hair brushes and ties, tooth brushes and two tubes of toothpaste and one last six pack of bar soap.

It felt weird, to scavenge. It felt odd not having to check out and swipe your debit card on a machine. Before vacating the store, Anna snuck into the office supply aisle and nabbed two composition books and a package of ink pens. If she couldn't find a book to read, she wanted to write. She wanted to keep her mind fresh some how.

Tara and Rosita, who Anna had not encountered much, came from the food aisles with bags of rice, canned goods and sealed containers of nuts. They looked like kids on Christmas.

"Not a bad haul here!" Tara exclaimed to Michonne and Carol.

Carol nodded, "Let's hope the others found as much."

* * *

><p>Rick and Abraham managed to fill up the two cars and put a little more gas in the fire engine. They syphoned off gas from two other damaged cars and filled up a gas cans with almost 25 gallons of fuel for just in case.<p>

"So you're worried about Noah and the girl? I don't think that they could be any more useless than Eugene." Abraham rumbled to Rick in a good natured tone.

"The girl, Anna, she hasn't been outside of that hospital since she and her husband went to Atlanta at the start of the outbreak. She hasn't seen what it has become on the outside."

Abraham looked thoughtful, "I don't think she is clueless, Rick. Besides, if she came with us to escape whatever regime ruled in that hospital, just think about what was happening inside those doors. She wasn't safe there. She'd rather risk it out here. Seems kinda brave to me."

The group from the Dollar General emerged first carrying bags and bags of supplies. When they started to pack up the vehicles, Michonne made her way past rick and into the gas station store.

"There's nothing in there, Michonne," Rick called to her.

She unsheathed her sword and shrugged, "You just need to know where to look."

Daryl, Maggie and Glenn returned with more cans and bags of rice from the food mart when Michonne walked out of the gas station with a long, wooden baseball bat in her hands. She presented it to Anna with a smile.

"Gas station owners always keep bats behind the counter."

Anna smiled and thanked Michonne, and Michonne pointed to a walker staggering slowly in their direction, "Maybe you should break it in?"

The girl nodded and approached the walker while Rick drew his revolver just in case.

He watched as she swung at the walker's head and made full, hard contact making his head dangle from his neck with a sickening sound. Anna continued to swing and beat the walker's body until it toppled down and stopped moving.

Rick saw her shaking with rage and adrenaline and watched as she took a breath and straightened her posture. When she turned to walk back to the group, her new clothes were speckled with dark blood and rot. She wiped her face with the back of her hand and said, "That was oddly enjoyable."

And in spite of himself, Rick Grimes felt one corner of his mouth pull into a smirk.


	4. Take What You Need and Leave the Rest

A/N: this is a work of fanfiction and not meant to infringe upon the properties belonging to Kirkman/Moore/AMC.

Of** Alexandria**

by** Leah Pensotti**

**Chapter Four: You Take What You Need and Leave the Rest**

Anna rode shotgun after the supply run. It had been over a year that she had been in a car, let alone in the front seat. She remembered seeing dogs hang their heads out of windows of their owners cars, and imagined that she looked the same way.

As the caravan drove north, Noah and Carl snoozed in the back seat and Michonne tended to a sleepy Judith. Anna and Rick didn't talk for an hour until she started rummaging through the glove compartment of the car.

She found road maps of the mid-south and sunglasses, a pocket Gideon's containing the four Gospels and a thick binder of compact discs. Most of them being country, religious or southern rock.

"This person had really limited tastes. Pretty predictable."

Rick smirked in her direction and she shut the binder of music, "I don't think I asked...but where are we headed?"

"Washington D.C...I figure if there is any sort of government left, it would be there. I'm not sure really what to expect anymore except death and decay."

Anna nodded silently, "I hope it is better than Atlanta. That place went to shit pretty quickly and just got worse. I'm wary of anyone with perceived power or any sort of authority. They've all turned into barbarians, rapists and overlords."

"Did they..." Rick looked at her with what only could be described as compassionate anger.

Anna nodded, "At the hospital...one male cop tried. Dawn, though a monster herself, stopped him. Everything was fine when Phil was alive. But once the bomb...I mostly got hit a lot. Dawn liked to make her wards her personal whipping boys. Some women weren't as lucky though..."

She could see Rick seethe and simmer beneath the surface. The new world had worn him down, too.

"Bastards."

Anna studied him silently. Rick kept his eyes on the road, but she saw a million emotions colliding across his face. He scared her. But not in the same way as the folks in the hospital had. She saw Rick struggling between hope and utter despair.

"Yeah. Total bastards." She agreed in earnest and went back to flipping through the CDs. Towards the back, she found a copy of "The Last Waltz" concert album by The Band. She felt her father's ghost and chose the second disc to pop in the car stereo.

The familiar intro played and Levon Helm launched into singing "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" and Anna whispered along to the lyrics about the starving southerners at the end of the Civil War. The song always confused her about just what they were trying to say. Anna felt hot tears tumble down her cheek and brushed them away defiantly. "Take what you need and then leave the rest, but they should never have taken the very best..."

She felt his eyes on her and Anna turned to meet him head on, naked in grief and tears streaming. She couldn't utter a single, solitary word. She felt like she had been caught red handed in the wrong.

* * *

><p>Rick had no words. It had been a long time since he had let himself feel anything more than anger. He had wept a lot at the beginning...but now, too much had happened. Tears were spilling from her eyes hot and fast, but she didn't turn away from him. In the short two days he had known her, this was the third time he had seen who she really was. The vulnerable, honest and emotional part.<p>

The girl had zero poker face.

They shared such an intense look that Rick realized he was heading directly into a walker and he had to swerve around it pretty violently. Carl and Noah woke up and Judith started whining from fear.

"Is everything ok dad?" Carl asked, he sounded a little spooked.

Rick nodded, "It's fine. Just wasn't paying attention."

The car settled back down again, and it's passengers in the back seat talked quietly about candy...of all things. Carl and Michonne went through this conversation often. Rick saw Anna out of his periphery. The tears had stopped, but he could feel the tension between them.

She looked terrified of him. And maybe she should be. He was far from the gentle family man he was before he got shot and fell into a coma. He had done things that in the normal world, would've been criminal. But they had to be done. The living these days had become more monstrous than the dead.

He believed Anna knew that to be true, after her stay at Grady Memorial.

If he were in Dawn's place, the man that laid a hand on Anna would have suffered dearly. That was inexcusable. A lot of things had changed, but that hadn't. Instead, Dawn had hit her, taken her frustrations out on her. He wondered if she had done the same to Beth. Sweet Beth Greene didn't deserve that, and as far as he could tell, neither did Anna.

He wanted to tell her it would be ok, but that isn't something he could idly promise anymore. Rick also wanted to tell her she was safe and she didn't have to be afraid, but she would definitely know that was untrue.

She may have correctly surmised that he thought of her as being delicate. But she was whip-smart...in the old world they would call her straight forward and sassy. But in this new world, she was a bunch of exposed nerves.

Rick reached over to her and patted the book of cd's in her lap, "Any Willie Nelson in there?"

It took Anna a moment to break from her reverie. She looked up at him with her fearful, wide gray-green eyes, "Y-yeah. I think so."

"I don't think there is a better way to be on the road...why don't you pop him in."

* * *

><p>an: thank you guys for the reviews! I hope you all can read and love the story and review.


	5. Christmas Carols in the Dark

A/N: this is a work of fanfiction and not meant to infringe upon the properties belonging to Kirkman/Moore/AMC.

Of** Alexandria**

by** Leah Pensotti**

Chapter Five: Christmas Carols in the Dark

They drove all day, until they decided to make camp just outside of Richmond, Virginia. Tara started a small fire and began cooking a pan of beans and rice. Anna watched as they congregated and divvied up responsibilities for cooking, keeping watch, tending to Judith and fetching water.

The small amount of food they shared tasted heavenly. It had been almost a full day since Michonne gave her the almonds.

Maggie and Glenn took the first watch and Anna dozed off beneath the clear sky full of stars. She wished she had a jacket for cover. She had the third watch with Abraham and Rick. Both men intimidated her.

She slept lightly until Michonne woke her when her watch was over. She was holding a fitful Judith and sighed, "Do you mind holding her for awhile? She doesn't seem to want to sleep. At all. "

Anna rubbed the sleep from her eyes with the back of her hands and shrugged, "Sure. But what if she doesn't like me?"

"Just relax and she will too. She's not really a fussy kid. She reacts to your reaction."

Anna took Judith from Michonne and felt her warm little body sink into her own torso. Before long, Michonne was asleep nearby, one hand on her sword. Judith looked at her with wide, blue eyes and her pudgy hands patted Anna's cheek gently.

Anna chuckled and cuddled the baby close to her. It had been so long since she felt any physical comfort. She patted Judith's back in a circular motion and leaned her cheek against the baby's forehead. She heard herself humming a familiar tune. The same tune her grandmother would rock her to sleep with; "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas." She sang it to Anna no matter the time of year. She felt Judith sink into her chest, heavy with sleep.

Anna smiled in the dark, she never thought she would see a baby again, let alone feel the joy of rocking one to sleep.

"Hey..." Came a quiet voice behind her. She looked up and saw Rick standing beside her, his hand resting on the hilt of his revolver in the holster.

"You need me to take her?" He asked her.

"I think I've got this under control. She just passed out. Wouldn't sleep for Michonne."

Rick nodded, " Abraham has the perimeter. I'll be nearby...if you need me..."

* * *

><p>He had wandered over to the small fire to wake Anna up for her shift at watch. But he found her awake, and humming Christmas carols in the dark to his daughter, who was cradled and comfortable against Anna's chest.<p>

He saw her smile to herself and he felt a pull in his own chest, knowing she had lost her own baby to this mess. Rick almost didn't have the heart to interrupt her.

As soon as the words "if you need me," had escaped his lips, he heard a twig snap and a rustle. It could have been a walker...or an animal...or a human...

Instinctively, he pulled Anna to him by the waist, and she let out a small gasp. Rick held on to her and put his finger to her lips quietly.

"Shhhh..." He whispered and touched Judith's head gently before drawing his gun from the holster. Rick saw Anna's eyes widen and he released her hip from his grasp. He saw her tighten her grip on Judith protectively and he saw Abraham approach. He had heard it as well.

A blond man appeared near a tree, and before he could say anything, Rick had knocked him out cold with a single punch.

* * *

><p>Anna felt herself flinch. The punch landed hard in the middle of the man's face. Yet, Judith didn't stir.<p>

Rick and Abraham tied the man to a tree and Anna saw the stern look on both of their faces. Just a moment before he had protectively pulled her to him, hip to hip. She still felt his finger at her lips.

She would be lying if she didn't admit to liking it or finding it thrilling.

It had been a long while since she had been touched like that. But then again, it was probably because she was holding his sleeping child. Anna felt her cheeks flush with shame, of course it was because of Judith.

Soon, the rest of the camp was awake with the news of a strange man tied to a tree. It seemed everyone had their weapons drawn or at the ready, waiting for the man to wake up. Anna just cradled Judith and hung back, trying to hold on to that bit of solace she had found less than fifteen minutes before.

Carl approached her, "You want me to take Judith?"

Anna shook her head, "She's fine. Go help your dad."

Carl nodded and walked back to where his father paced. Anna felt embarrassed by the pull she felt to Rick. He got her out of the hospital. She had been traumatized. She was grieving still. Her feelings were mixed up and out of control.

He was protecting his child. Not her. He didn't even know her.


End file.
